"Kogan said: we are not interested in you." Interview with the chief of Belarusian figure skaters [Oleg Vasilev] by Andrey Simonenko:
Российские и белорусские фигуристы уже более полутора лет лишены возможности выступать на международной арене, но до сих пор не прошло ни одного турнира, где бы РИА Новости Спорт, 22.10.2023
rsport.ria.ru
Machine translated excerpts:
Russian and Belarusian figure skaters have been deprived of the opportunity to compete on the international stage for more than a year and a half, but so far there has not been a single tournament where they competed with each other. If Belarusians perform in Russia, they do so outside of competition—you won’t find their names in the final protocols. About the reasons for this situation, as well as why the International Skating Union is in no hurry to return athletes from our two countries to the “family,” a RIA Novosti Sport correspondent spoke with the head coach of the Belarusian figure skating team, Honored Coach of Russia, Olympic champion Oleg Vasiliev.
- There are recommendations from the International Olympic Committee (IOC), but the ISU still does not want to implement them, not allowing Russian and Belarusian figure skaters to participate in international competitions. Why do you think?
- Firstly, the word “recommendations” has nothing behind it. Secondly, let's remember that the ISU board is made up of people aged 80 give or take years. They all have high salaries, under a million dollars a year, which are provided by the IOC. And until the IOC actually tells the ISU “allow it,” they won’t do anything. Are they feeling bad? They travel to international competitions, fly business class, and live in five-star hotels. All this, as well as food and drinks, is paid for. This is all in addition to salary.
- But ISU is losing money due to the absence of Russians.
- They have more than $200 million in reserves. They will earn three million dollars a year less because there are no Russians - so what? This is not catastrophic for them.
I spoke with ISU CEO Fredi Schmid at the ISU Congress a year ago. They understand perfectly well that they are losing money. But peace and well-being for the members of the board and the top of the ISU are much closer than the three to four million potential losses due to the absence of the Russians.
- What does “calm” mean? What are they afraid of - incidents?
- They're not afraid of anything. They didn’t want to let Russians into the same congress a year ago, but then they let them in, and nothing happened, everyone communicated calmly, no one “punched anyone in the face.” They just don't want any complications. No matter what happens. You and I may not understand this. When we reach the age of 80, we will have a pension of 50 thousand dollars a month - then maybe we will understand.
And let’s not forget that all the athletes and countries that didn’t even claim the podium before are now with medals. The entire world figure skating community is happy that there are no Russians. A different level of competition, a different distribution of bonuses. Everyone likes.
- But this is discrimination, and the IOC has leverage over the ISU, like any international federation - to take away the right to host Olympic competitions, cut off funding...
- It ’s not easy for Thomas Bach either. I wouldn't want to be in his place right now. Where are the IOC sponsors from? That's right, from the West. If Bach does something they don't like, what will happen? Complete collapse of the Olympic movement. I think Bach doesn't want his name associated with this.
Bach initially allowed this situation. But now he can’t get out of it. If he had immediately said that sport is outside of politics, whoever wants to participate in competitions, whoever doesn’t want to does not participate, the situation would have been different. But he followed the political lead of his sponsors. And now he’s rushing about, saying one thing, then another. And he has no control over the situation.
- Returning to the ISU, we had influence in this organization. How did we lose it?
- Through their own fault. They did it with their own hands. You and I have already talked about “dinners between Russian coaches and international judges,” contracts and so on. Nobody liked it. And little by little they tried to remove us from all significant positions. Nobody liked the extra pressure - neither the Americans, nor the Canadians, nor the Europeans. We overdid it and got backlash. It was necessary to be more flexible, reasonable, diplomatic, and not arrogant and stubborn.
- Is it hard for figure skaters in Belarus?
- Very. Motivation – zero. There is neither a financial incentive, as there is for Russian figure skaters, nor tournaments where one could compete at a high level. There are a lot of competitions themselves - but these are all “infighting”. Our athletes in each discipline can be counted on the fingers of one hand - and they compete in all domestic Belarusian tournaments in a row.
We have already lost one of the two couples - Dmitry Bushlanov said that it would be better to earn money in Sochi than to train for $400 a month - this is a salary in the national team, without knowing why.
- Is it no longer possible to persuade you to hold on?
- In the first year of suspension, I was still able to somehow motivate and promise something. In the second year, there was practically no trust in me. But still, persuasion and promises alone will not pull you through. It’s hard for Russian athletes, despite the fact that their situation is much better. It is very difficult for Belarusian athletes.
- Don’t you think that the same FFKKR is not actively resisting the discriminatory actions of the ISU? There was a joint claim by the Russian Skating Union and the FFKKR to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) for suspension. The hearings were supposed to take place in May 2023, but there is no information about this.
- By contacting CAS, we play on their territory. This means that you are potentially a loser. Plus it's expensive. It’s probably impossible not to do this either. But to do it knowing that you will lose money and lose 99%... Just to show that we are not giving up?
- Show the same athletes that they are fighting for their interests.
“The fact that we file lawsuits, spend several million dollars, flounder and lose the case will not make it any easier for them.”
- You worked both in France and in the USA, you have many friends from the world of figure skating. Do you feel any support from them in the situation of withdrawal? In other words, is Figure Skating Family a family or not a family anymore?
- Sergei Voronov now works for me in Minsk, he is the senior singles skating coach in the Belarusian national team. Recently he was at one of the stages of the Junior Grand Prix. I asked him - you are a Russian coach, in the recent past a Russian athlete. What does it feel like? He answered: in general, as usual, there are, of course, individuals who greet through clenched teeth, but there are only a few of them. Some say that it’s boring without the Russians and their quadruples, others are happy with the situation. In general, the situation is calm and not hostile.
That is, such that they are waiting for us, or everyone doesn’t want to see us - no. Everyone there - or the majority - is satisfied with the current situation. When we return, they won't kick us. But hard times will begin again for them, when they will have to do quadruple jumps in single skating, some super complex throws and lifts in pair skating... And now everyone is performing calmly, everything has dropped a floor or two lower, and they feel very comfortable. Why do they need Russians?
